Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Cardinal reaffirms child protection pledge as documents release

Responding to the release of documents about Chicago priests accused of
abusing minors over the past 50 years, Cardinal Francis George has
apologized to victims and reaffirmed that no accused priests are
presently serving in ministry.
“We realize the information included in these documents is upsetting. It
is painful to read. It is not the Church we know or the Church we want
to be,” Chicago archbishop Cardinal George said Jan. 21.

“The
archdiocese sincerely apologizes for the hurt and suffering of the
victims and their families as a result of this abuse.”
The cardinal said the archdiocese hopes that the documents’ release and
the work of its Office for the Protection of Children and Youth can help
abuse victims heal.
The documents – which were released as a condition of a 2005 legal settlement – concern 30 Archdiocese of Chicago priests.
Attorney Jeff Anderson, who claims to have won more than $60 million
from the U.S. Catholic Church in clerical sex-abuse lawsuits, first
received the released files. His office then culled them and posted them
online.
Anderson’s office said four of the priests have been criminally
convicted of abuse of minors. His office accused the archdiocese of
placing priests back in ministry despite them posing a danger to minors.
Cardinal George said that 95 percent of the cases contained in the sex abuse documents occurred before 1988.
“Today, no priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse
of a minor serves in the Archdiocese of Chicago,” he said.
“The abuse of any child is a crime and a sin,” he continued. “The
archdiocese encourages anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest,
deacon, religious or lay employee to come forward.”
Cardinal George has previously said that most of the accused priests
were either dead or out of ministry before he arrived in Chicago in
1997. The incidents were reported to civil authorities and legal claims
have been mediated. The cardinal has said that he removed those who had
been allowed to continue in public ministry before his arrival.
In his Jan. 21 statement, the cardinal discussed the Catholic Church’s
past handling of abuse accusations. He said that some leaders of the
archdiocese “made some decisions decades ago that are now difficult to
justify” according to “the prevailing knowledge of that time.”
“In the past 40 years, society has evolved in dealing with matters
related to abuse,” Cardinal George added. “Our understanding of and
response to domestic violence, sexual harassment, date rape, and
clerical sexual abuse have undergone significant change and so has the
Archdiocese of Chicago.”
“While we complied with the reporting laws in place at the time, the
Church and its leaders have acknowledged repeatedly that they wished
they had done more and done it sooner, but now are working hard to
regain trust, to reach out to victims and their families, and to make
certain that all children and youth are protected.”
The cardinal said that all reports of sex abuse are referred to civil
authorities “immediately.”

The archdiocese’s Independent Review Board
also examines the results of investigations into allegations and makes
recommendations to the archbishop about an accused priest’s fitness for
ministry and the safety of children.
The Archdiocese of Chicago has paid about $100 million to settle sex
abuse allegations against priests, the New York Times reports.
The names of archdiocesan priests known to have abused a minor are
published on the archdiocese’s website, Cardinal George said. He
stressed that the archdioceses is concerned “first and foremost” with
helping abuse victims heal and has run its victim assistance ministry
for over 25 years.
He also pointed to background check efforts and abuse prevention programs now running in the archdiocese.
Earlier this month, in a letter to the Catholic faithful of Chicago, the
cardinal said the document release can benefit child protection
efforts.
“Painful though publicly reviewing the past can be, it is part of the
accountability and transparency to which the Archdiocese is committed,”
he said. “Accountability to the civil authorities constitutionally
responsible for the protection of children is part of the life of the
Church here.”